Web show College Romance recently got under the scanner for the use of sexually explicit language as the Delhi High Court, in strong remarks, said “its sexually explicit language could corrupt impressionable minds as the content was widely available”. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma mentioned that the “court had to watch the episodes with the aid of earphones, in the chamber, as the profanity of language used was of the extent that it could not have been heard without shocking or alarming the people around.” The court has directed the streaming platform to take appropriate remedial steps.
Reacting to this controversy, actor Nikhil Vijay, who has been part of shows that use foul language, says, “Mat dekhiye aise shows earphones ke bina. My point is, ise usi tarah se treat kariye, jaise karna chahiye. You do not have to make it a community experience. ”
Around us, all kinds of A-rated and R-Rated content is being made and watched. Agar aap kahein ki aise cheezein hi na ho, toh I think ye democracy ke toh khilaaf hi hai. My point is, ise usi tarah se treat kriye jaise krna chaiye. In this day and age, everything is available on web,” says Vijay as he suggests that censoring one particular thing won’t change anything in the bigger picture.
Though Vijay, who is currently shooting for the fourth season of Hostel Daze in Delhi, agrees that use of foul language may have a few drawbacks for the impressionable minds, he asserts that sometimes it’s necessary to add weight to the scene. “Gaaliya Bhasha ke liye ek alankaar ka kaam karti hain. It makes the language rich and real. That’s the reason, films like Gangs of Wasseypur created an impression on the minds of the audience. If you are playing a character, and at certain point, if the scene demands…and aisa lage ki ye ab gaali dedega…toh use de deni chaiye. Foul language if being used should be only out of need and not just for the sake of it,” he explains.
Court in its judgement also highlighted that “it’s not the language that nation’s youth or otherwise citizens of this country use, and this language cannot be called the frequently spoken language used in our country.”
Vijay explains the reason why abusive/foul language is being used to openly today, which was never the case 5-6 years back. He says, “Cinema has changed over the years and also the way of consuming it. Earlier it was more of a community experience where people would go out with families to watch a film. Ab cinema ek personalised tareeke se logo k paas aarha hai. They like to watch it on their laptops on using their headphones. And if they are seeing certain kinds of things or certain kind of language, I don’t think there is a problem in that. As far as the point of cinema negatively affecting the minds of people is concerned, I do not believe in it. I understand that cinema being an audio-visual medium has a great impact, but people are behaving in a certain way just because of that…I would say it’s a wrong thing to say.”
Offering a solution to it as he wraps up, Vijay says, “Ek authority censorship lagaae, usse behtar hai ki creators self-censorship ke concept ko seriously lein.”